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LEARN wrote the Chairs and Ranking Members of the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees overseeing funding for the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES), the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). In these letters, LEARN advocated for increases in fiscal year 2018 funding for these key institutes, centers and foundations which support critical education research aimed at advancing scientific understanding of learning and development.

Specific funding requests in the letters include:

For IES, Research and Dissemination, $210 million

For NCSER, $58.26 million

For NSF’s Education and Human Resources Directorate, $948.6 million

For NSF’s Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate, $293.8 million

LEARN, along with the American Educational Research Association (AERA), co-led a community sign-on letter to leaders of the House Appropriations Committee in support of funding for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that garnered the support of nearly 100 organizations and more than 1,500 individuals from across the country. This letter comes in response to the cut of $82 million to the IES budget proposed in the FY 2017 Labor-HHS-Education funding legislation passed by the House Appropriations Committee.

The letter read, in part, “as you consider the next steps for the FY 2017 budget, we, the undersigned individuals and organizations representing education research scientists, institutions, organizations, deans, and faculty are writing to convey our strong support to restore FY 2016 levels for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). …

We have witnessed the results of employing valid, reliable research to improving outcomes for all students, and we understand the truly detrimental impact these cuts would have. Given the importance of education to building a strong economy and meeting our nation’s commitment to equity and opportunity for all young people, we urge you to restore funding for these essential programs.”

On September 20, several LEARN coalition members gathered in Washington, D.C. for the annual Fall Advocacy Day.

Attendees had the opportunity to hear from Ruth Neild, Acting Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), about the Institute’s current priorities and had the chance to ask questions about policies impacting institutions of higher education that are engaged in education research.

In the afternoon, several members participated in a series of meetings on Capitol Hill with key appropriations staff in both the House and Senate to emphasize the importance of continued funding for IES, as well as NIMH and NICHD, in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Federal budget. Funding for IES was cut significantly in the FY17 budget proposed by the House of Representatives, and these meetings were part of LEARN’s efforts to ensure that funding is restored in the final budget.

Below is a statement from the Co-Chairs of the Learning and Education Academic Research Network (LEARN) Coalition related to the House Appropriations Committee’s consideration of the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies funding bill. Established in 2004, LEARN is a coalition of leading research colleges of education. The LEARN Co-Chairs are:

Glenn E. Good, Dean and Professor, College of Education, University of Florida
Donna L. Wiseman, Dean, College of Education, University of Maryland
Hardin Coleman, Dean, School of Education, Boston University

For further information, contact Alex Nock at 202 618-3900 or anock@pennhillgroup.com

Statement by the Co-Chairs of the LEARN Coalition
on the House Appropriations Committee consideration of
the FY 2017 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Funding Bill

“As co-chairs of the LEARN Coalition, the leading group of Deans of Education Colleges focused on research, we are gravely concerned about the proposed cuts to the research accounts at the Institute of Education Sciences. These cuts will mean no new research awards will be made, freezing the development of new research on methods to help our nation’s students learn, especially those who are the most disadvantaged. These cuts come immediately on the heels of the bipartisan passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which emphasized the use of evidence-based practices to drive better student achievement and success. As the Senate and House Committees come together in the coming months to negotiate a final 2017 appropriations bill, we urge the restoration of these cuts.”